THE LEAF BLISTER MITE. 



o;iven to fall treatment. At this time many of the mites have not vet 

 gone to the bud scales, but occur in the pubescence of the young 

 wood and are hence more easily killed. 



Lime-sulphur washes are excellent treatments for these mites and 

 their employment is perhaps preferable as avoiding danger of injury 

 to fruit buds by the oil sprays. If a lime-sulphur wash is employed, 

 it should be applied with great thoroughness, completely coating the 

 tree so that when spraying is finished the tree will appear as if 

 whitewashed. The' homemade wash, according to the old formula, 

 lime 20 pounds, sulphur 15 pounds, and water to make 50 gallons, 

 will be quite eifective; or the homemade or commercial concentrate 

 may be used. The former may be made according to the fornuda, 

 lime 50 pounds, sulphur 100 pounds, and water to make 50 gallons. 

 AVhen thus prej^ared the concentrate should be used at the rate of one 

 part to 9 or 10 parts of water. Applications of these washes may 

 also be made in the fall as described for kerosene emulsion and in 

 the spring, and if onh' one treatment is to be given the spring a])pli- 

 cation is preferable, as it takes the place of the first application of 

 a fungicide for apple scab. AVhen the mite is quite troublesome both 

 fall and spring treatments would insure its control more quickly and 

 completely. 



On the p^iw the mites may be kept reduced to an important extent 

 simj)ly b}' searching out in the spring branches bearing worst infested 

 leaves, jDruning tln^se off and burning them, or sprays may be em- 

 ployed exactly as indicated for the apple, if this is considered 

 necessary. 



Except in cases of serious infestation sj^ecial spraying for the 

 blister mite will not be necessar3\ As to whether or not it is advisa- 

 ble to spray, the orchardists will have to decide after determining as 

 exactly as is possil)le the amount of injury being done by the mites, 

 and care should be taken not to confound with its injurj^^ that which 

 has resulted from fungicidal or Paris-green sprays, and from leaf- 

 spot diseases. 



. , - SMrTHSONIAN INSTITUTION LIBRARIES 



Approved : 



James Wilson, 



Secretary of Agriculture. 

 AVashingtox, D. C, April 10, 1912. 



3 9088 01272 8234 



ADDITIONAL COPIES of this publication 

 -l\. may be procured from the Superintend- 

 ent OF Documents, Government Printing 

 Office, Washington, D. C. , at 5 cents per copy 



